Palin's Tea Party speech sparks debate over movement

In the wake of Sarah Palin's speech Saturday at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, the movement's factions continue to debate whether she and the convention captured their spirit.

The speech was well-received by the audience, which chanted "Run, Sarah, Run." But a Nashville Post blogger says Palin's speech was, plain and simple, self-serving. "Palin didn't give a tea party speech last night. She gave a partisan Republican address. It was a purely political speech designed to position her for a presidential run in 2012 or 2016. Period. She wasn't there to celebrate the organic nature of a movement she had nothing to do with creating. She was there to co-opt the name and claim the brand as hers. And she did."

Rick Ungar, writing at True/Slant, agrees and says further that Palin is not the "serious leader" the movement needs. "That early message of The Tea Party seems to have been forgotten. If this movement is to progress, they will need to recall the importance of character in those who would lead -- and Sarah Palin clearly does not possess the character to be a legitimate leader of any political movement."